


i'm here (like you're here)

by space2cadet



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Blood and Injury, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Lesbians in Space, Love Confessions, listen my gf said she almost cried reading this but i promise it isn't as bad as the tags sound, theyre space lesbians and also my babies ok im attatched
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:29:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22671808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/space2cadet/pseuds/space2cadet
Summary: Trapped in an underground cavern, hundreds of miles away from home, cadets Sabrina and Io have to face a few truths they've been avoiding.In which two pilots learn what really means the most to them
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	i'm here (like you're here)

**Author's Note:**

> hi ! this is a little excerpt from a longer piece i'm working on that i liked and wanted to share.  
> for some background, sabrina and io are pilots in the middle of a *big action fight* where sabrina got pretty injured, and io is also the name of one of jupiter's moons.
> 
> also uhh follow me on tumblr at parisshes or ssehuns

Sabrina’s skin is damp with sweat, and her trembling limbs are pressed on Io’s. Every breath is a Herculean effort in the dry air, every blink a fight against the fine dust falling down like snow. That small, insidious voice telling her to _give up, run away_ is back, filtering through cracks in broken rock and hanging heavy in the air. The cavern they fell into has completely sealed itself up, but their suits cast a dim white light over rough rock and shattered glass.

Overhead — above ground — the shriek of metal on stone makes Sabrina jolt, and the sudden movement lights up every damaged part of her body, burning an unrelenting path down down every nerve. “Io,” she gasps, body curling even further into the other girl’s hold.

Io’s mouth is set in a thin line, eyes rimmed red, but her hands are light and careful as they pull Sabrina closer. “Why would you do that?” she asks. Her voice is wrecked, and Sabrina buries her hand tighter in the front of Io’s flight suit. 

“Had to — had to protect you,” Sabrina chokes. “You were going to die.” 

“But why’d you do _that_ ?” Io sounds furious and scared. “Your arm’s already crushed. You fell twenty feet onto _concrete_ , Sabrina. And then, after everything, after I told you _no_ , you take this hit for me. You can’t take another … You’re gonna get yourself —”

“Had to save you, she says again, voice hoarse. She coughs wetly, and the movement puts too much pressure on her ribs. She feels blood soak faster over her torso, sticky and warm and stark in the white light. “You haven’t even — even seen Jupiter yet.”

“No,” Io says, “We’re gonna see it together, remember? We’re gonna visit every single moon, and you’re gonna take a picture of me on Io. Remember we talked about that?”

Sabrina looks fondly up at Io, but her lips crack and bleed as she tries to shape her mouth into a smile. “Yeah, we’re gonna … see the whole Milky Way together.”

“Right, yeah. We’re gonna see Jupiter and all the moons, then we’ll go back to Earth’s moon so you can see the stars from there.”

“The … the stars?” Sabrina thinks she’s slurring her words.

“Uh huh, we’re gonna see all the stars. And it’s gonna be like camping was when you were little, just like you told me. We’ll bring a tent and sleep under the stars. We planned it all, remember?” Io bends down to knock her forehead on Sabrina’s helmet, unshed tears turning her eyes brighter than anything Sabrina has ever seen.

“The stars,” Sabrina says. “I wan — wanna see them.”

“Once we get out of here we can see them, alright Brina? Does that sound okay?” Io’s voice is barely above a whisper. 

She wants to say yes, but everything around her is going blurry, and it would be so easy to close her eyes to rest — but she wants to see the stars before she falls asleep, because she isn’t sure she’ll wake up if Io needs her again. “No, I need them now,” she says, agitated. She _has_ to see them before she goes to sleep. Her chest starts to rise and fall irregularly, puffs of air hacked out as she sucks in long, rattling breaths.

“Brina?” Io rasps. “Baby, please try to stay still. I’ll — I’ll get you to the stars soon.” Her hands are shaking trying to staunch the bleeding, but Sabrina thinks distantly that it’s useless. It’s already seeping through her flight suit and onto the cavern floor. 

“I need — Io, I need —” Her breathing continues to speed up, the pressure on her ribs building unbearably with each breath. Black spots encroach on the edges of her vision.

“No, don’t do that sweetheart. Please, please, _please_ , just stay still until I can get us out of here,” Io says, panicked. Her hands flutter over Sabrina’s torso, fingers slipping, slick with blood, as she tries to stop the bleeding and calm her down at once. “Can you breathe with me for a little, baby? In four out seven, just like we did on the roof.”

“Okay.” That sounds harder than anything she’s ever done, but Io looks like she’s breaking again, and Sabrina would do everything she could to make sure she never looks like that again. The world narrows to her chest and Io’s voice, pain falling to the wayside as she steadies her breathing.

After what seems like hours of _in four out seven, in four out seven,_ Io speaks. “Good job, baby — you did so good, I’m so proud of you. I’m gonna get us out of here; I promise.” 

“‘Kay, I trust you. Always trust you,” Sabrina says. “You’re my …” 

“What, Brina? I’m your what? Stay with me, sweetheart.” There’s an urgency in her voice, strained and frantic.

“You always. Um, you’re my … I forgot, sorry.” Io is _true north, her copilot, everything_. But when she tries to say it, the words won’t come. Sabrina tries to grasp at the thought — any thought — but her mind is foggy and she can’t remember the word for copilot. 

“That’s okay, baby,” Io says. But Sabrina doesn’t think it’s okay, because the tears in her eyes have finally started to spill, carving out rivers in the grime caked on her face. “Just take your time. I’ll still be here.”

“I’m here like — like you’re here,” Sabrina remembers. She coughs again, and her ribs _burn_ , like they’re being pulled out of her chest. 

Io sobs, tears dripping down her chin. “Yeah, baby. Yeah — you’re here like I’m here. We match, so you have — you have to stay with me.” Above them, something screeches, and Sabrina swears she can feel the cavern shake.

“So small,” she says. “Bobby hates small spaces.”

“Your sister?”

“Mhhm, my baby sister,” Sabrina slurs. “She’s jus’ a kid, you know? How’s she gon — gonna be okay without me?”

Io’s face collapses, and there’s so much swimming in her expression that it hurts to look at. “You aren’t gonna die, _cari_ _ñ_ _o_. Bobby’s gonna come for the next visitation day and we’ll show her the simulator and the Vultures and everything’s gonna be okay. I promised, didn’t I?

Sabrina plows on, words sliding over each other so much she’s not sure if Io can understand her at all. “Gonna miss my dogs s’much. An’ my brother. An’ ev’ryone at the Blockhouse.”

Io inhales sharply. “ _Sabrina_.”

“An’ _you_. Gonna miss you more than the stars, Io. The roof an’ our room an’ —” she coughs. “— an’ being your copilot. Best thing I ever did, promise.”

Io makes a heartbroken sound through her tears. “Brina, baby, don’t fuck around like that. You aren’t going anywhere, okay? You’re staying with me. You’re here like I’m here, got that? We’re staying alive, and we’re getting out of here, and you’re going to survive this.”

“I love you, you know?” Sabrina says. “I—”

“Shut up! Shut up, shut _up_ — you can tell me when we get back home, not when I’m sliding around in your blood. When we get home, tell me, and I’ll tell you back. Just — just wait. Please. _Please_.” She sounds so shattered, haunted and afraid and so unlike herself. Sabrina wants to undo all of this, to be able to grip Io’s hand tight and tell her that everything’s alright. But even as she tries to reach for Io, her hands spasm and she can feel the bone under her skin move. Her head throbs, and her vision darkens as her eyes close on their own.

“I love you, Io.”

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked this ! and no that ending wasn't a cop out because i don't know if i want her to die yet, i swear i did it for the suspense and artistic freedom.  
> anyways, please leave a comment and/or kudos if you like this because i liked writing it :D


End file.
